Rules of the Game
by BookWorm77071
Summary: In which Lily teaches James how to play Scrabble and claims it's better than Quidditch. James doesn't think so. K for slight language. Read and review! Criticism welcome.


**A/N: Hi! This is my submission for the "Games" prompt for Jily Week on Tumblr. Enjoy!**

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"Prewett's completely mad," said Sirius flatly as he and James climbed up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower.

"You said that already," James said, jumping over the disappearing step.

"I'll say it again. Prewett's completely mad. Our next match is versus Ravenclaw-_-Ravenclaw-_and it's not till March, and we can't fly in the damn snow, _and we're playing Ravenclaw._"

"I know that, Sirius," James said, exasperated. "You said that already, too."

"Ravenclaw, James, Ravenclaw! Prewett's mad!"

"I KNOW!"

"Indoor voice, Potter. Now, tell me, when was the last time we lost a match to _Ravenclaw_?" Sirius tossed his shoulder-length hair back on the last word, shaking out water. They had just gotten out of the showers in the Gryffindor locker room, after an hour of a grueling practice in the snow. Ella Fawcett had made the mistake of knocking a Bludger past McGonagall's window, and she had appeared on the grounds fast as lightning, shouting at them to get inside immediately. "I don't ever want to see this team on the pitch practicing in a blizzard _ever again! _No exceptions, Prewett!"

"I know we're going to win Ravenclaw, Sirius," James said for the tenth time that day, "and believe it or not, so does Julian Prewett. But it's good to be prepared- don't argue, Sirius-and it's Quidditch! Dragon eggs," he added to the Fat Lady. "It's the best game in the world."

"I am never playing in a blizzard ever again," said Sirius disgustedly, marching toward the boys' dorms.

"It was only a bit of snow!" James called after him.

James looked about the common room, searching for Remus and Peter. He saw them on the floor by the fireplace, next to Lily Evans. There was a big square... thing in between them.

"Well, I _equestrian _your quest, Remus," he heard Lily say triumphantly as she lay what looked like small pieces of wood on the square. "Triple word! That's fifty-four points to me!"

"What are you doing?" James asked as he sat down next to her.

"Playing Scrabble!" said Lily, grinning. "Mum and Dad sent it for my birthday."

"Nailed," said Peter, adding five tiles to Lily's _N. _"That's a double on the _D._"

Remus picked up a notepad and jotted some numbers down with a quill.

"What is it?" asked James, squinting at the square. It was filled with more of these small wooden letter-tiles, and plenty of empty spots, some of which said things like DOUBLE LETTER.

"What is it?" repeated Lily, shocked. "It's the best game in the world!"

"No," said James automatically. "_Quidditch _is that best game in the world."

"No," said Lily. "Scrabble is. Here, I'll show you. Come play with us. We've only just started." Lily gave him a stand and picked seven tiles out of a blue bag. "Take these."

James lay his letters out on the stand. "Erm," he said. "How do you play?"

"You spell out words," Lily said very matter-of-factly.

"Oh," he said. He didn't want to hurt Lily's feelings, but he failed to see just how this was the best game in the world.

"Well," Lily said. "Spell something!"

"Okay," James said uncertainly, looking down at his stand. There was an _A, _a _D, _an _R, _an _S, _a _T, _a _W, _and...

"Lily, they made a mistake at the store. There's no letter on this one, see?" James held the offending tile up as proof and flipped it in his hands.

Lily giggled. "No, silly, that's a blank!"

"Oh," James said, going red. He never could seem to impress Lily with Muggle objects; only when magic was involved.

"Think of it as a free shot," suggested Remus.

"Oh, okay," James said. "I think I got it."

Starting on a red TRIPLE WORD square, he wrote S-T-A-R and added the blank. "Start," he said proudly.

Lily covered her mouth with her hand. "You," she said, trying not to laugh, "you have to continue from someone else's word."

"Oh," he said, feeling himself go red again. He watched Peter and Remus exchange smirks and shot them a black look.

"Here," said Lily, rearranging his tiles. She moved his word behind an _S. _"Starts," she said.

"My turn," Remus said, turning the game towards himself and rescuing James.

The game continued much in that fashion. Lily won, with a total of three hundred and thirty seven points; then Remus, with three hundred and sixteen; Peter, two hundred and twenty five; and then James, with a humiliating one hundred and fifty.

"Good game," said Lily cheerfully. "We should play again sometime." She started scooping up the tiles into the small blue pouch.

"Sometime," mumbled James.

Lily looked up and caught his eye, grinning. "Helps if you read."

"I do read!"

"For pleasure," she said patiently.

"I do read for pleasure!" James insisted. "Rematch. In one week."

Lily rolled her eyes. "James-"

"I mean it! One week from today. After dinner."

"Whatever you say," Lily shrugged.

James was grateful for the snow outside. Prewett shuffled into the common room miserably on Sunday and told them that McGonagall had said that she didn't care if the snow had stopped coming down; it was still there and she won't have the entire Gryffindor team die of hypothermia.

James spent the week in the library. He wasn't reading anything in particular. Actually, he made a point to read books from all different sections to try and learn as many new books as he could. Sirius thought he was being stupid ("In what world is spelling considered fun?") and Peter thought he had gone mad. Remus, however, thought this was a good thing.

"She'll probably beat you, anyway," he added. "But good on you for trying!"

Wednesday night, after dinner, James walked into the common room and saw Lily already sitting on the floor by the fireplace, setting up the game. Some other fourth years were sitting by her.

"I still can't believe you're doing this," said Sirius, disgusted.

"Neither can I," said Charlotte Jones. "But should be good for a laugh, don't you think?"

"This isn't a joke, Charlotte," said James.

Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Go on, then," said Olivia Turpin.

"Ready, James?" said Lily, smiling at him.

"Of_ course. _Are you ready?"

"Of _course_."

Remus handed each of them seven tiles.

James looked at his tiles. _M, Z, J, K, U, E, _and _R._ He looked at Lily. "Ladies first."

She grinned, and spelled AERIE.

"That's not a word!" said Charlotte.

"Is too," said Lily. "It's an eagle's nest built on a mountain or another high-up place."

Charlotte shrugged at James. "Sorry."

James looked at his tiles and the board, racking his brain. He knew there was something in there. He tried remembering the books he had read through in the past week.

"Muzjik," James said proudly, adding five letters to Lily's _I._

"Okay, you definitely just made that up," said Charlotte.

"A Muzjik is a Russian Peasant," James said. "I read about it in _Wizarding Communities in the Nineteenth Century._"

Lily looked impressed. "Sounds boring."

"It was."

"So's this," said Sirius, getting up. "I'm going to get something to eat."

"We just had dinner," said Remus.

"Come with me, Peter," said Sirius, ignoring Remus.

Sirius and Peter left the common room as Lily spelled MUZAK, tying them at fifty-six. James played BEZ for twenty-seven points, and Charlotte stood up.

"Your just making this up as you go, both of you," she said. "Come, Olivia."

"I'm going to stay a while longer, Char," said Olivia. "I want to see who wins."

"This is going take a lot more than just 'a while,' Olivia," James assured her. "I learnt a million new words."

"I'm sure," said Lily, adding FECK to the board.

"I did!"

"I said I'm sure!"

The game continued much in that fashion, and Remus gave up after half an hour, when James was leading by thirty points at one hundred forty-seven. Olivia left fifteen minutes after that when Lily was leading by seventeen points at one hundred eighty-three.

"You're still at it!" exclaimed Peter as he and Sirius climbed back into the common room.

"Mad, the both of you," said Sirius, shaking his head.

"Be quiet. Thirteen points for me."

"Good word, James," said Lily. "But look at this."

Lily put all seven of her tiles on the board by an _S_ James played, spelling CABALISM.

"That's just fourteen, but double on the _A, _it's fifteen, and it's got two triple-words, so it's one-eighty-three, and I played all my tiles, so bingo! Extra fifty points! One hundred eighty-five to me!"

James studied the board. "Cadenzas!" he said triumphantly. "That's worth one hundred and thirteen points!"

The game ended shortly after that. Lily won but not by much-five hundred and sixty-three to four hundred and ninety-nine.

"Let's play again!" said James. He felt as if he had just flew ten laps around the pitch, but not with his body; with his mind. He told this to Lily.

"It's a brain exercise," Lily explained. "You're a smart boy, James. Quidditch is mostly playing physically. This is strategy. You need this once in a while."

"So will you play weekly Scrabble games with me?" said James.

Lily smiled. "You sure you're up for losing every week, Potter?"

"Oh, bring it, Evans."

Lily laughed as she gathered up all the tiles and put them in the small blue bag. James watched her, thinking he might've had a new favorite game.

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**A/N: So... review?**


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